A Wolves World

Christmas is Coming

Erica

We get up and I help Brett take care of the remains of the animals we caught last night. Brett walked with me as I went to my house to change before heading to the hospital.

“Why do I smell like lake water?”

“I showed you to the hidden lake that is deep in the woods. It’s private and I doubt anyone knows anything about it except for me. You said you remembered a lake.”

“I do remember the lake, but I didn't think that we actually went swimming in it.”

“We did, in fact, when we got there you ran right past me and jumped straight into the water.”

“Well, I guess I will have to take a shower and maybe I should call the hospital and say I will be late.”

“You are already late, it is almost noon,” Brett stated blankly.

“What! Noon how do you know that? ” I almost yelled. "You haven't looked at the time on your phone or anything."

“I know where the sun is in the sky.”

“You learned to tell time by the sun?”

“And also, by the moon, one of the perks of basically living your whole life outside.”

“Could you teach me sometime?”

“I can try but it might take a while.” We reach my house and Brett stays at the edge of the woods and watches me walk up to the porch. I open the door but before I go inside I turn back to face him.

“How about you come inside and get something other than animal meat to eat.”

“It’s fine you don’t have to--” I cut him off before he finished.

“I insist. I'm guessing you haven’t had much to eat other than meat since you came here. It will do you some good.” He slowly walks up to my house and then up the stairs and stops in front of me. I move aside to let him in.

“Thank you,” he whispers in my ear sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. He walks into the house and stands awkwardly in the kitchen, not really knowing what to do. I follow him in and make sure the door is locked, not that it really matters.

“There is some cereal in the cupboard here.” I opened the cupboard, revealing the cereal choices. “Bowls are over here and spoons are in this drawer and, obviously, the milk is in the fridge. If you want something else, feel free to look through the cupboards. I am going upstairs to shower and call in sick as it is already really late.” I walk upstairs and go into my room. I lock the door and pull out my phone, only to find out that it is dead. I plug it in and grab a change of clothes from my closet and dresser.

When I get everything, I go to my phone which now has a little bit of a charge. I go through my contacts and scroll until I find the right number and call it. I don’t get an answer so I leave a voicemail. ‘Hey, this is Erica. Sorry, I can’t come in today and didn’t call earlier. I'm still slightly sick from yesterday and I would rather not risk getting any of the kids sick with whatever I have.’ I click my phone off and place it on my desk to let it continue to charge.

I go to the bathroom and climb into the shower and let the water fall over me as I wonder what all happened last night. I get out a few minutes later and dry off and quickly throw my clean clothes on and head out of my room and down the stairs where Brett is taking care of the dishes he used.

“Have a nice shower?” He says without turning around.

“Yes, quite refreshing actually,” I say rolling my eyes.

“Thank you for the food, but I guess I should get going before your parents get home.”

“You don’t have to. You don’t really have anything to do except wander the woods or sit in the den, so you can hang out here today. Actually, anytime you want, the back door is almost always unlocked. If it's not unlocked I can tell you where the spare key is.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Well yeah, you are probably the first person who was ever kind to me, besides my parents, that is, and you helped me with what happened last night.”

“To be fair, it was my fault that you even went through all of that.”

“True, but you didn’t just leave me to figure things out for myself. And I think that makes you a great Alpha.” I say with a smile.

Brett

She invited me into her house to eat something other than raw animal meat. She trusted me while she was in the shower. When I was done, I was going to leave but she said I could stay because I didn’t have much to do. She said I would always be welcome at her house. She is doing this because I was nice and helped her with the shift and everything, even though I was the reason. What impacted me the most was that she said I was a great Alpha, something everyone told me I would never be, and that had an effect on me the way she said it and I don’t know what that means.

“Thank you, Erica, but really you don’t have to do this. I have lived as a wolf a lot. I am used to living rough. That is how I spent most of my life when not being schooled by the pack teachers.”

“Yeah, but you also had a house to go to when you needed it, and before you first shifted, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“So now you have that again.”

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome. And I have a quick question. I noticed something while I was in the shower.” I raise an eyebrow at her confused as to what she could mean. “Nothing weird or perverted but it looks like I lost some weight.” I nod in realization.

“That happens when you first shift or shift for the first time in a while you lose the extra weight that you don’t need as a wolf.”

“Okay, well half of my clothes aren’t going to fit anymore, so I guess I will have to go shopping.”

“Sorry,” I say. I know how much clothes can mean to a girl.

“It’s fine. I have needed to upgrade my clothes for a while now and this has given me the reason.”

“Okay, well then I am not sorry.” she laughs and rolls her eyes at me. “Quick question for you Erica.”

“What is it?”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but it is Christmas break and your parents aren’t home.” I trail off.

“And you want to know why?”

“Yeah.”

“Well my dad always works and when his job gets busy my mom will often help, and when they both work they work crazy hours, typically from night to the morning and they sleep while I am at school and when I get back from school they are leaving or have left. This is also a busy time but they have all of next week off, which is the week that matters.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

“And speaking of Christmas, you don’t have your family to spend time with, so I am sure my parents wouldn’t mind if you spent it with us.”

“You are too kind Erica, thank you, I would love that.” I smile at her as I get this weird feeling in my chest, one that has only been described to me by older wolves from stories that I had previously thought to be a myth and I was terrified of what that meant.

Erica

I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I invited Brett to join my family for Christmas. I mean, I know he doesn’t have a family anymore, but he is still practically a stranger. I have just been getting this feeling around him since last night and still have it today and I don’t know what that feeling means. But whatever it means, I know that I want to be able to spend time with him and nobody should be alone on Christmas.

To pass time until my parents get home, we sit in the living room with the TV on, but it is more just background noise as we talk and laugh and really just get to know each other better, as we will be spending lots of time together for probably forever, as I am now apart of his pack. After a while, my parents pull into the driveway, and Brett makes his leave, and though I said he could stay he pointed out that it Could raise some unwanted questions. I wave goodbye as he takes his wolf form and runs off into the woods.

A minute later, the front door opens and my parents walk into the house.

“Hey sweetie you’re home early from volunteering, what is up with that?”

“I came home early yesterday because I wasn’t feeling good and then I was still slightly under the weather today, so I thought it would be best if I didn’t go in today.”

“I hope you are feeling better.” It's almost Christmas. You can't be sick on Christmas.

“Yeah, I am feeling much better thanks for asking.”

“Well we got off early, so we are home for the rest of the break,” my dad adds.

“Really you never get off early.”

“Dan don’t lie to our daughter, she deserves the truth.”

“What truth, what are you guys talking about?” I say worried.

“Listen, we have been going in a lot, not because we have been busy, but because we have been trying to keep the business up and running, but today it slipped through our fingers and the business has to close down for good and we are now out of a job.”

“What after all these years and all of your money that you have put into it?”

“This is just a minor setback. We are not in trouble yet. After Christmas, we will start looking for new jobs, but until then we can spend some more time with you.”

“I guess that is the only plus about this. Oh, and can I invite someone to spend Christmas with us he doesn’t have a family to spend it with.”

“Oh, honey, that would be wonderful the more the merrier.”

“Okay.” I quickly run up to my room before they can ask me more about who I invited and how I know him. We really needed to get our story straight. I enter my room and lock the door, open my window and climb onto the roof to sit and look up at the sky. It was quite relaxing just sitting up there with the slight winter breeze and the sun shining down on me, one of the upsides to living in a place where we rarely ever get snow. I almost fell asleep until I heard a knock on the door of my room. I climb back through my window and walk over to the door and open it.

“Sweetheart, I called you for supper a while ago, did you hear me?” my mom says the second my door is opened.

“Sorry, I practically fell asleep, I didn’t get too much sleep last night,” I lie as I follow my mom downstairs to the dining room where we sit down to eat and talk. It takes a lot for me to not talk about the last few days, with meeting Brett and what I have become. I don’t tell them the truth because I don't want to risk losing them, not just yet.

“Is it okay if I go shopping tomorrow? I need some new clothes and to get you guys your Christmas presents.”

“Yes, of course, you can go, just don’t go spending too much money on us.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” We finish eating and I take care of my dishes and then headed up to my room and did some reading before heading to bed. That night I fall asleep wondering what I should get a werewolf, who lives in a cave all alone, and was disowned by his old pack and his family.

The next morning, I wake up and headed to the hospital for a little while until noon when the volunteer program is done until the day after Christmas. When I was leaving, a scent hit me. I look over to see Brett standing in the woods looking at me. We make eye contact for a minute before Brett tears his eyes away and walks toward me.

“Hey,” he says as he reaches me.

“Hey.”

“What are you up to?”

“Just heading to go shopping for new clothes and Christmas presents.”

“Well, then I might just have to catch you later.”

“Yeah, but before you go, do you need anything or want anything?”

“You don’t need to get me a present, just being invited to spend Christmas with you and your family is enough.”

“Okay, but do you have the time to walk me to the shops so I am not lonely?” I ask with a little bit of a puppy dog face.

“I guess I can spare some of the precious time I spend doing nothing to walk you over there.” I laugh a little at how he says that.

“So I was thinking…”

“Well, that can be dangerous.”

“Hey.” I playfully slap him on the arm feeling a little static shock as I do so. I couldn't tell from the look on his face if he felt it or not.

“Sorry. Continue.”

“So I was thinking and I got to wondering if there are any pack traditions. I hear that in some stories werewolf packs often have special traditions.”

“Those stories are usually made up and completely wrong, but yes, there are traditions and certain things that werewolf packs honor.”

“Like what?”

“One of the most important is when a wolf finds its mate there is a special celebration and there is a ritual that happens, almost like a human wedding, I guess you could say. And another is when you are old enough to first shift, there is a small celebration, and you get a pendant on a chain or necklace to signify that you are fully a member of the pack.”

“What was your pack's symbol?”

“It was a paw reaching out to a hand. I left mine behind when I decided to leave the pack.”

“Tell me more about this mate thing.” I changed the subject now, having an idea of what to get him but not wanting him to figure it out.

“Well, what I have been told since I was young was that when you get to a certain age, usually around the age that we are now, you will get this feeling that is said to be hard to describe to others, but they say you will know it when you feel it. When you get this feeling, you have met your mate, the one you will spend the rest of your life with.”

“Did you ever meet your mate or get the feeling with anyone in your old pack?”

“No, I didn’t, though technically I should have already. You are supposed to get your mate before you can become a pack alpha.” I could sense he was lying or not telling the full truth but I didn’t want to bring it up as I could also sense he didn’t want to talk about it, yet. “I don’t fully think it is real and the older wolves just say that to give the young ones hope and when they fall in love they think they get this feeling and say they are mates to keep the story alive.”

“Why do you think that?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Because I should have found mine before my Dad died, I should have already found her and had the ceremony so that when he died I could take over. But with the legend, my pack was always wary of me as I was the only heir to the pack, so the legend had to be about me.” Before I can ask him more, we reach the shops and Brett stops to let me go on my way and shop but before I leave, I grab his hand again feeling little static shocks.

“See you later Brett.” I don’t know what it was, maybe from what Brett said, but there was an empty feeling in my chest when I let go of his hand and walked towards the shop and I could tell there was a shift in his mood at that moment as well.